


Belle Tower

by ChloeWinchester



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Psychological Torture, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-09
Updated: 2015-05-03
Packaged: 2018-03-22 03:00:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3712318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChloeWinchester/pseuds/ChloeWinchester
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The story Regina told to Rumplestiltskin was true. Belle's father captured her and dragged her to a tower to cleanse her of her sins, though he has no idea how strong his daughter truly is, or how determined The Dark One can be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Belle stood trembling, shaking her head weakly, barely able to stand. Her back and her legs were healing badly, some of the welts on her shredded skin were fresh however, from just today. Burns riddled her tiny form, her face bruised, her hair mercifully twisted into a braid.

Her gown was torn, covered in blood and sweat and she was so weak. She needed water, she needed to eat, but she hadn’t stopped feeling like that since she’d been brought to this tower.

“Please,” she begged, looking at the guard who was holding her arm, standing her on the balcony of this tower and making her watch this. “Please, don’t, don’t let them do this.”

“I don’t have a choice, my lady,” he said quietly, wincing when she began to sob.

“PLEASE!” She shrieked to the people below. “Please, don’t, they never hurt anyone, please!”

Her books.

They were being piled in front of her, one by one, every last page, and the torches were on standby. She shook her head, hard, only being supported by the guard’s hold on her.

“They don’t have to do this, they don’t have to burn them, they could give them away, they don’t have to hurt them, please, please, PLEASE, PAPA DON’T BURN THEM TOO!”

She was allowed to save one. Just one. As if she would ever survive this ordeal. As if the pain and torture would ever stop.

The first book her mother gave her survived, and it was safe clutched to her chest. Safe from this hell.

The pyre was lit and the innocent girl wept as her worlds were destroyed. Her solace, her safety, her love...destroyed. Her kind heart broke again and some of the light in her eyes left.

Ash was all that remained of her cherished books, books she treated like her children, that she cared for, cooed to, cried against, hugged and loved and they were gone. What’s more, so was Rumplestiltskin.

She ached for him every day. She yearned for just one more moment, for the chance to turn around at the door and tell him she wasn’t leaving, not for anything in the world. Then everything would be alright.

Oh how she dreamed of him. Of soft words, of his gentle looks and that one kiss, that one perfect kiss over and over again, she wanted it so dearly. He held her once, and he was warm, gentle. She would do anything to feel such tenderness again.

Now her eyes burned with smoke, her body was close to giving up and her soul was so wounded. The guard who held her finally took her away. She didn’t need to see every book turn to ash, she didn’t need to be traumatized anymore.

This was wrong. He knew it was wrong. The buckets of blood she’d had spilled, the screams that had came from her lips, the tears and agony she’d endured all for the sake of some twisted brainwashing her father was attempting. Casting out her evil when there was none.  He knew damn well there was absolutely none.

He’d seen that.

No matter what she went through, no matter how she hurt, she still said thank you when he gave her water. She still tried to smile at him. And she didn’t blame him for it. Not even a little and she had every right to.

“I’m so sorry, my lady.”

He took his post outside her door again, loathing himself. .

Belle collapsed on the bloody mattress of the bed and wept, mourned, grieved. She prayed hard, hard hard for relief. For mercy… Any mercy…

She wouldn’t renounce her love for Rumplestiltskin. Nothing could ever make her do that. Not this torture, not burning her books, not...anything. She loved him. And it was true love, she’d seen it for what it was, she’d seen. She truly believed that she needed to fight for true love, and this was the hardest battle she might ever fight, but she would win, or she would die. That was all.

Gaston’s whereabouts where unknown to her, completely. She didn’t know if Rumple had done something or not she had no idea but he wouldn’t believe her…

“Rumple,” she breathed, not knowing how much more of this she could take. She closed her eyes. “I love you. I miss you.” She hoped he was happy. More than anything she just wanted him to be happy.

~*~

“I’m doing this for your own good, Belle,” her father stated, standing at the foot of the bed while she was tied down. “You have to see what that beast has done to you.”

“Not this,” Belle whimpered. “Nothing like this he never HURT ME!” One of the clerics slapped her for her tone and she shrunk into herself, crying.

“Just take it back, Belle. Cleanse yourself of that monster and take it back,” he urged, pleading.

“No,” she said firmly, staring at the ceiling with tears on her face. “No, I won’t. He’s not a monster, Papa. But you are.”

She was beaten for that too, more severely, and by his own hand. She never pleaded with him to stop, only looked at him and cried.

“You’re going to kill me doing this,” she whispered, lips shaking. “And then, then you’ll have lost mother and me. And you’ll have to live with that.”

Her screams echoed through the kingdom itself and no one wanted to save her. They heard about the girl who let The Dark One slaughter her fiance and ran away with an evil man who twisted her into someone she wasn’t. Infected her with darkness and she needed to be cleansed of it. But she was unrelenting. That’s what they all thought of her.

Her father accused her of so much. Including handing over her virtue to him, as if it was some personal offense to him, as if he had any business dictating what she did with her own body, what she desired, what she wanted. Of course, all her and Rumplestiltskin had ever done was kiss, but that was-

“None of your business!” She spat, jerking in her binds, hanging from the ceiling while she was flogged again. She screamed when the whip came down again. “It’s not!” Another. And still she refused and again and again she shrieked. Pain overwhelmed her, dragged her into the dark he was trying to pull her out of.

“NO!” She finally shrieked, out of tears and out of voice. “No, I didn’t! I didn’t... I didn’t sleep with him, I didn’t…” Her jaw clenched, her raw, dark eyes looking up at him. “But I wanted to.”

Her father stopped, his momentary victory gone. “What did you say?”

“I said, I fucking wanted to!” She snarled, jerking against the ropes, her breath tight and straining. “I thought about it so many times, I thought about letting him have me, pleading for him to take me right there on the dining table! I LOVE HIM! And nothing, nothing you do is ever going to take that away!”

~*~

The night was merciless, as were the nights to follow, nearly a week of more severe punishment.

There came a morning where she opened her eyes and she could hardly move when the sun came up. It was blood red, the sky deep and spattered with it, echoing her agony. No more. No more…

With the book clutched to her chest, she staggered to the door to the balcony and pushed it open, barely able to stand. She sobbed roughly, fighting to breathe properly. She fell against the rail, shuddering with tears on her face.

No more. No more. She couldn’t stand the pain, the loneliness, loathing herself, her body everything about the pathetic little girl that couldn’t get away from here. There was no other way out. Maybe the reason Rumplestiltskin wasn’t here, why her dreams hadn’t come true and he saved her was because he didn’t want to. Or maybe it was just easier to think that way.

She pulled herself onto the rail, standing on top of it and holding her book, shaking. She closed her eyes. She’d see her mother again, once she fell. Once her pain stopped she could be with her mother again. She smiled a little, tears slipping down her cheeks. She took a deep breath and started to lean-

“BELLE!”

She stopped, her eyes flying open and she slowly looked over her shoulder. Belle sobbed once, her chest hitching, pieces of her heart throbbing violently. “Rumple?”

He looked about as desolate and overwrought as she did. His eyes were red, his body drooped and tired. There was gray in his hair and his clothes were almost plain. It worried her, but she wasn’t sure…

The Dark One was reaching for her, his hand carefully outstretched to her, desperation in his big dark eyes. “I’m here,” he breathed, and Belle caught a glimpse of the bloody sword on the ground, but she couldn’t be bothered to wonder who had died on it. She looked back at him, still unsure. “Belle, sweetheart, I’m here, I am. Please. Please, get off the ledge. Don’t do this, Belle, please.”

Belle blinked, trembling and staring at his hand. “You’re real?” She choked. He nodded, taking another step toward her.

“Yes, Belle, yes, I swear. Come here and I’ll show you,” he urged gently. He didn’t want to rush her or grab her, in case she slipped, in case she screamed and lurched away. He needed her to make the decision.

Against the rising sun she looked so fragile, so small. She looked afraid and broken. He should have known sooner, he should have checked on her, he shouldn’t have hidden away from her so bitterly… But there was time to hate himself later.

“Belle, I promise, you can get down, and no pain will come to you. No more pain. I’ll keep you safe. I won’t let anyone lay a hand on you ever again. I won’t let that happen,” he begged. He just wanted to hold her and soothe her. She was so hurt and her body was so battered how was she still standing?

Belle stared, and hoped with whatever she had left that this was true. Belle slowly touched his hand, fingers delicately touching his palm, shaking before fully grabbing his hand. She sobbed once, finding he was solid, and staggered off the railing into his arms.

She pressed her wounded face into his chest and his neck, his warmth so comforting. Belle cried, her legs buckling underneath her and she clung to him as tight as her small hands could manage.

Rumplestiltskin held her, engulfed her in his arms and smoothed back her mussed hair from her face. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Belle,” he whispered, tears seeping into her hair. “I was a coward. A horrible, selfish coward. I...I was a monster and this is my fault. It’s all my fault-”

“It’s not your fault,” she promised, blinking up at him. “You didn’t...put me here. You didn’t do this to me, you didn’t-” She broke down again, her legs giving out entirely. He held her easily, lifting her into his arms. She cried out in pain and he cursed himself, holding the back of her head.

“Your pain will stop soon,” he whispered. “I’ll take care of you, Belle. I’ll keep you safe. No more harm will come to you.”

She looked up at him, her small, shaking hand touching his cheek. “I love you.” He let out a breath, something of a laugh and a sob and pressed into her palm.

“I love you too,” he said so softly. “Oh, I love you so much. I should have told you that before. I shouldn’t have sent you away I should have… I should have just said it- I’m so sorry.”

“Shh. I know you love me. I know you do. It’s...it’s true love, remember?” She smiled. This sweet, tortured girl who moments ago had nearly hurtled herself off the tower was smiling up at him. Because she loved him.

He smiled back, in complete disbelief of her, and rocked her a little in his arms. He turned toward the door.

“I swear, I will slaughter anyone who touched you, anyone who harmed you or just stood by. They’ll all pay-”

“No,” she whispered, looking up at him with tears in her eyes. “Please, Rumple. Please, just...take me away from here. No revenge, please.” Her voice broke. “Please, take me home, and we can be together.”

Home. She called it home. He shut his eyes and pressed his forehead against hers. “As you wish.”

In a large cloud of red smoke they disappeared from the tower and reappeared in the hall of the Dark Castle.

Belle sobbed in relief, going limp in his arms.

Safe. She was safe.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rumple gets Belle home and promises to make sure their lives are better from thereon out. And it works, for awhile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the wait~ Uni's a bitch

Belle took short, gasping little breaths, now only aware of Rumplestiltskin’s holding her. He was speaking to her, but she couldn’t quite make out what he was saying. She couldn’t see straight, the sounds she could hear pounding and a lot like rushing water. His voice was entirely muffled, and the only thing she truly registered were spikes of pain.

She moaned and jerked off the horrible thing he’d just put her down on, trying to get away from it, shaking her head.

“Belle! Belle, it’s alright,” he’d set her on the dining table, right in the midst of these magical possessions and potions he had. His healing magic wasn’t nearly as strong as some of his others, as he really had no need to heal anything that was this severe, or on himself, nothing too horrendous happened to Bae that even needed it.

But Belle was so wounded, her scars were deep and she bled every time she moved. He had to take this pain from her, he had to help her, but it might take more effort than he was used to. She sobbed quietly and his chest ached.

“Shh, shh, I know. I know, Belle, it’s alright. It’ll stop soon I-I promise.” He snapped his fingers and the pillow he’d given her what felt like a lifetime ago appeared under her head to offer some comfort.

The purple light suddenly washing over her made her start, and slowly things came into focus a little more. Rumplestiltskin was moving his hands over her body, hovering them while the light came over her and healed a lot of her superficial injuries. She whimpered, touching his wrist. “Thank you.”

He gave her a sad smile, still unable to understand this sweet woman. At least he was helping, at least he was somewhat making up for what he’d done, what he’d caused.

Belle kept her hand on his wrist, squeezing when it hurt too much and using the touch to ground herself to him.

“Alright. Alright, Belle, give me just a moment, alright?”

Her deep wounds, her scars, those are what needed the most attention and the magic he had in him right now wasn’t enough. He’d learn. He had to, when things like this could happen, he had to be able to protect her and...save her from pain like this ever again.

He brought back a case of potions that had remained untouched since Jefferson procured them for him, and he was so glad for the Hatter right at this moment for bringing him something he’d thought he’d never need.

“Shh…” He soothed, pressing a hand on Belle’s forehead. She shook with chills, wracked with fever. She didn’t deserve this. This beacon of light and warmth, this sweet girl who never uttered an unkind word -that wasn’t deserved at least- or harmed anyone in her life didn’t deserve to be in so much misery.

“Hold still, just for a moment, sweetheart, I know it hurts,” he said quietly, taking a vial of electric blue liquid and anointing the top of her head with a single drop. The drop burst into a ripple of gold light that spread over her. Her more serious injuries healed, she gasped again in relief, sobbing with it.

All that remained after that flurry were the scars and the dry, cracked skin left from extreme heat. Her sickness remained, but he could take that away with a few days rest, not magic. He looked at the damage through her tattered dress, gently turning her chin.

“Belle?” Her eyes found his and focused. “Belle, in order for me to get rid of the rest I...I have to touch you. Is...that alright?”

“What, why?” She asked, cocking her head a little before absently leaning into his hand and closing her eyes, so starved for gentle touch. He carefully thumbed her cheek, pained.

“Your scars, dearie, if I don’t take care of them too you...you might not be able to walk correctly.” In truth, some of them on the back of her legs had torn through the ligaments in the back of her knees, as well as her ankles. Without help, in less than a year she may not be able to walk at all, but he didn’t want to scare her.

She shuddered a little, lips shaking. “Will it hurt?” She breathed.

He shook his head. “No. No, my dear, I promise I won’t let it hurt. Okay?”

Belle shut her eyes and nodded.

It was a salve he had to apply directly to her skin that came from a small jar and glowed green a moment before seeping into her skin and fading away. He started with her legs, gentle, soothing and whispering that it was okay. He wouldn’t hurt her, as he promised.

Belle shivered, feeling her muscles relax bit by bit as it seeped in. She rolled on her side when the Dark One asked her to so he could get to her back, his voice so soft and gentle. No one had screamed at her all day… She missed that.

She stared out the window, at the gray day that had spawned from the blood red morning, touching the book beside her head for comfort.

“They burned my books,” she whispered.

He froze.

“What?” He said, shaking his head.

“Father made them go into my room. Took all of my books out and burned them in front of me.” Tears filled her eyes and she closed them tight. “They didn’t do anything wrong, Rumple. It wasn’t their fault, they didn’t do anything and he burned them all up!” She pressed her face into the familiar binding of the only survivor.

Rumplestiltskin carefully put a hand on her head, smoothing her hair back. “Shh…” He whispered. “I-I’m so sorry, Belle. You...didn’t deserve this either. This is my doing. If I…”

She shook her head, reaching back for his hand and squeezing it. “I-I don’t regret any time I spent with you,” she whispered. “I don’t regret loving you. I understand why you told me to leave. Just...don’t do it again? Please?”

“Never,” he swore. “I’ll never send you away again.”

Once she was entirely healed Rumple waved his hand and the rags she’d been wearing were replaced with one of the sleeping gowns she still had here, her skin and hair clean. The material was light and soft, gentle against her skin.

Belle looked up at him, still riddled with fever and chills, but the pain was gone. Her illness and fatigue was all that remained.

“Better?” He said softly. She nodded, reaching for him.

He carefully scooped her into his arms, walking with her toward the rest of the castle. “You’ll be alright now,” he promised. “I’ll take care of you, Belle. And when, when you’re well again we...we can start that life together.”

She turned her face into his neck, crying softly and clinging to him. But she was smiling.

Rumple took her to a guest bedroom, as his was all but demolished from bursts of rage and utter self-loathing, and carefully lied her down, tucking a light quilt around her.

“So what have you been up to?” She asked quietly, smiling sleepily as he dabbed her face with a cool wet cloth. He laughed a little.

“Uh, nothing productive,” he said gently. “Nothing good.” Belle frowned a little.

“Have you been hurting people?” She asked quietly.

“Well, it’s not really hurting them if they know the consequences of magic, is it?” He asked in that fluttery sickly sweet tone. She gave him an amused but cynical look. He sighed. “It’s my nature, Belle. I had to distract myself somehow. I could only spin for so long.”

She swallowed, looking away. “But you...you spin to forget,” she breathed. “Did you...forget me?”

He stopped, looking into her wounded bloodshot eyes and brushed the back of his fingers against her cheek. “I could spin for three eternities, and I’d never forget anything about you, Belle.” It was true, and Belle knew him enough to recognize his sincerity.

She closed her eyes briefly. “I dreamed about you every night,” she whispered. “About being back here. Kissing you.. Talking to you. I missed your voice so much.”

Belle felt soft lips press against her heated forehead and she kept her eyes closed. “I missed you too. I, I haven’t slept, but if I had, I know what my dreams would be.”

She looked at him, eyes pained. “Rumple…”

“Don’t you dare,” he said quietly. “Don’t you dare look at me as if I’ve suffered a fraction of what you have, Belle. I’m fine. I’m just fine.You need the attention right now, not me.”

“I worry about you,” she breathed, looking up at him. “About you, taking care of yourself.”

“I’m The Dark One, dearie, I don’t have to take care of myself.” He smiled a little at her, trying to make her feel better, and unsuccessfully.

Belle looked away, tears in her eyes. “I...I wanted you to be happy. Whenever I thought of you, I thought of you as being happy and you weren’t.” Just a naive little girl… “I thought that if I didn’t make it at least one of us would be alright!”

“Shh, hey, hey,” he whispered, leaning down to look at her, to hold her face and kiss her head again. “We’ll be alright now, won’t we?” He asked gently. “You and I, we’re here together again. Nothing can take that away. Nothing is going to tear us apart. Not again.”

For days Rumplestiltskin cared for her, held her while she slept and soothed nightmares away. He kept her safe when her father came to try and take her, turned half an army into roses and left them to wilt in the snow.

Belle had either not noticed them or stayed quiet about them when she spat in her father’s face and told him this was her home. That Rumplestiltskin was her home and if he came near her again she’d let The Dark One do what he tended to do in these matters.

They were left alone.

Things were fine for awhile.

Rumple showed her how to fight with a sword, though often times they wound up kissing. Without Belle’s intent to break his curse their kisses were freely given, but he cursed himself for not thinking of that to heal her some months before.

He showed her the library again, swore every page to her, though it wouldn’t make up for those he lost. He’d spend what time he could in getting the ones she’d lost back.

Each time he left for one of his endeavors he came back with one, and it didn’t take long for her to realize this is what he was asking for in his deals lately. Books for her. Volumes she’d lost.

She thought it was a much better effort than something more nefarious.

He told her about the items he had, of the things he’d seen, of his son and his search for him, of Regina and Cora and how he’d trained each of them in magic.

He’d truly forgotten about the curse.

One day he didn’t come home. One day Belle was left waiting at the door all night looking for him, and he didn’t come. The next night was the same, and the night after and she knew there was something horribly wrong.

But she was afraid. Afraid to venture out alone in case she was taken again, in case her father dragged her to the square in their kingdom and cut off her head then and there. She was scared something terrible had happened to Rumplestiltskin, and maybe he was being hurt right now, just as she had been, and it terrified her.

After weeks of being afraid with no word from him at all, and no one to call for help, Belle began to read about fairies.

He’d told her he’d gone to take a wand from a fairy godmother some time before he’d disappeared and that was the last procurement she’d heard about. He had many magic wands about, but this one was special. This one was capable of many, many things and she wasn’t to touch it, lest it hurt her.

The books she’d found told her why. It told her of the darkness at the core of the wand, of the horrible things done at the hand of this fairy godmother and what precisely she did with it. Honestly she was glad it was in Rumplestiltskin’s possession.

She packed next.

Books, clothes, food, the sword she’d trained with and the potions Rumple had taught her how to use. She could defend herself now, and she’d be damned if she was going to play damsel for anyone else again.

Rumplestiltskin had been her hero, and she was going to do the same for him now.

She trekked her way through the kingdoms, asking who she could about recently married princesses that weren’t Snow White. That was the deal she’d been told about, a girl wanted to change her life and she’d gotten married and had a family due to his intervention. Oh how she’d yelled at him for asking for this woman’s first born, how he’d tutted back that the deal was struck and the contract binding. The woman had said anything and he had another woman begging him for a child, he had to make do.

Belle was led to a kingdom of a Princess Ella, and heard in a tavern about what had happened to her husband Thomas. How double crossing the Dark One had lost her her husband.

“...But at least that bastard’s finally been jailed.”

Belle dropped her drink right onto the floor and ran out, shaking her head. Imprisoned. They’d jailed him, taken him away for the deal he’d made with her when she knew what the cost would be dealing with him like that it wasn’t a damn secret!

She had to find him. She had to free him.

~*~

A lot of things turned up in the dark, Rumplestiltskin found, leaning against the back wall of his cell and musing over his list of visitors down here. Snow White and her Charming husband, Regina, Regina, Regina…

“Suppose I don’t have many friends,” he mused to himself, then giggled. Always so dark down here, so void of light. He missed light. He missed Belle. “Oh sweet little Belle, I hope you’re safe…” He almost sang, speaking under his breath.

“It’s you I’m worried about.”

He sat up suddenly, looking out in the dark past the dim torchlight and ran to the bars. “Belle? No, no, hearing things, hearing things…” He sang, shaking his head and giggling. “Rumple lost his mi-ind-!” He stopped again, watching a figure step into the light, hooded and so small and he knew that delicate scent of lilac so well…

Belle pushed her hood back and smiled at him. “There you are.”

He laughed a little, reaching out to try and touch her, to be sure she was real. “H-how did you get here?” He asked. “How’d you find me?”

She took his hand, smiling. “The last book you brought me?” She offered. “It was about fairies. The Fairy Godmother you...well I just, I followed it from there and…”

He laughed a little, squeezing her hand and pulling her closer. “You came to save me?”

She gently touched his face, looking into eyes made too wild and a body too thin from not being fed by so-called heroes. She smiled at him. “Of course I did,” she said softly. “You think you’re the only one in this relationship who gets to be the hero?”

He shook his head, giggling with the absurdity of it and leaned in even closer. “I missed you so,” he said quietly, more grounded than he’d been in so long.

She smiled, thumbing his rough skin. “I missed you too. I’m going to get you out of here,” she nodded. “And we’ll get back to our happily ever after.”

Belle leaned up on her toes and kissed him, wrapping her arms around his neck as best as she could through these bars.

He kissed her back, lost in her, awed by her.

He nearly missed the rumble of thunder overhead.

The curse.

No, no, he’d just gotten her back, they’d just gotten to see each other again, it wasn’t fair. Why did he make the damned thing why… Why couldn’t he find his son another way?

He gripped her tighter, as if that would save her, save them, from being ripped apart. No happy endings, not for him, not for anyone. He’d lose Belle, he’d lose her and he didn’t know for how long, he couldn’t see that far ahead right now. At least twenty-eight years, twenty-eight…

“Rumple?” She whispered, noticing his distress and desperation. “Rumple, what’s wrong-?”

“Shh, don’t. Don’t, Belle, just…” He kissed her again, a tear sliding down his cheek as he relished these last moments with her. He’d rescue her again. Or maybe it would be her that freed him, but he would see her again. “I’ll find you, Belle,” he whispered, cupping her face. “I won’t let you get away again.”

Just before their lips touched again, the world ripped open.

He opened his eyes and his arms were empty, surrounded by a shop.

And Belle woke screaming with nurses pinning her down and sticking her with needles, bellowing at her that there was no such thing as Rumplestiltskin, no such thing as the true love she swore she lost until she succumbed to the drugs that made her quiet.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back in Storybrooke, the curse broken, Rumple searches for his true love again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was originally a two part deal but I was asked on Tumblr that there be a part three and here we are! Enjoy~

“Where is she?” Rumplestiltskin snarled at the Queen through the bars, the grip on his cane violently tight. “I know you have her, now tell me where she is.”

Regina smirked, shrugging. “I have no idea where your little bird is. And why should I?”

Rumple laughed a little, shaking his head. He jerked the cane up in his hand and shoved it through the bars, catching the back of her neck and tugging her closer, slamming her against the bars. He grabbed her face in his other hand, sneering at her. “I know you put her somewhere, your majesty. Now you can either tell me while I’m still being nice, or I can get much, much worse.” He punctuated each word by pulling her tighter against the bars, choking her.

Regina grunted, her lip twitching as she smiled. “Where do you think I’d put her?” She spat. He stared at her, cheek twitching, dark eyes filled with the utmost rage. He let her go, shoving her back and turned around, limping from the Sheriff’s station and utterly ignoring Emma and her family when they barged their way in to interrogate The Evil Queen.

“What the hell was he doing here?” Emma asked, looking at her. Regina shrugged.

“Who knows why mad men do what they do.”

~*~

Something was wrong. Belle could hear it outside but she didn’t move. Curled against the corner, no blanket, no pillow, nothing warm in this frigid little cell, dirty and hungry, she could only hope that woman wouldn’t come in and hurt her.

The woman she vaguely knew, a face that was so familiar but she didn’t dare bring that up anymore. If she did the woman beat her until she apologized. Took away privileges, like eating and water.

She hoped the nurse stayed away too. The woman who found any excuse to shove a needle in her arm and make her quiet. Strap her down, force pills down her throat, toss her into the shower and spray her down with icy water and leave her to drip dry while she wept. The woman with the short dark hair would always laugh at her then.

A long time ago, she could have sworn she knew her own name. She had memories and a life, but that had been ripped out of her, slapped out of her, and drugged away.

She’d thought she had...someone. A man with a beautiful name, marbled eyes and gold skin, with a soft touch and a brilliant smile. A man with magic, who spun straw into gold, who gave her a library, wrapped his arms around her, kissed her so tenderly with lips so soft and he saved her…

She covered her head, crying into her knees. Fake. Made up. Wrong. Wrong, wrong, she was so wrong, so wrong, so wrong. No one was coming for her. No one was coming to help her. She was alone, and whatever was happening outside, she hoped it wouldn’t result in more pain.

Her door rattled and she whimpered, pulling herself in tighter. “Please, please, please,” she whispered, shaking her head. “Don’t hurt me, don’t hurt me, I didn’t do anything…”

The door opened, and the moment Belle saw the nurse she sobbed, hiding her face, failing to see the man holding a gun to the back of her head.

Rumplestiltskin took one look around the dark, cold, empty room with the tiniest little bundle of limbs and thick brown hair, and slammed the woman against the door, pressing the gun to her head. “Give me a reason I shouldn’t,” he snarled.

That voice. Belle raised her head very slowly and looked at the figure, dark against the bright light behind him, a wrathful angel. Saving her. With the nurse who tormented her poised to die. Her heart leapt in her throat.

“Rumple no!” The name left her lips without really thinking and she sat up, reaching toward him.

His head whipped to her, looking at her. She remembered. Despite all this trauma she endured, what she’d been put through, she...she didn’t want this woman dead. And she didn’t want him to kill her.

“Just, just let her go,” she breathed, tears in her eyes. “Y-you’re real. You’re real, that’s payback enough. Please.”

Rumple lowered the gun very, very slowly, sneering. “Go.”

The woman ran away, into the melee outside that was slowly dying down as people calmed and realized themselves.

Shaking, Belle stared at the man she’d thought she’d dreamed up, reaching for him. “You are here, aren’t you?”

He limped closer to her, gently brushing his fingers against her cheek, laughing softly. “So long as you are, sweetheart.”

Belle sobbed once and launched herself into his arms, squeezing him so tight, holding the back of his head. He gripped her close, cane clattering to the floor, holding her tight. Tears slid down his cheeks and he buried his face in her hair.

Belle’s shoulders heaved with her sobs, and he absolutely engulfed her, protecting her. “They told me you weren’t real. They told me I was-was crazy but you’re here,” she whimpered, holding the back of his head, touching his hair and his neck. “You’re here. You’re real. Our love is real, your magic is real…”

Rumplestiltskin kissed the tears on her soft face, thumbing her cheeks. “It’s real, Belle. It’s all real and I...I’m so sorry they had to convince you otherwise. That they abused you into forgetting… I’m so sorry.” It would have been easier if she hadn’t remembered. She might not be this utterly shattered if she hadn’t.

Belle sniffled. “Why did I remember? A-and you?” She asked.

Rumple took off his coat and draped it around her shoulders, cursing his limp that prevented him from carrying her. “Let’s talk when you aren’t in this horrible place. You should see sunlight before we talk about such darkness.”

Belle looked almost revitalized the moment sun kissed her porcelain skin. The warmth swelled over her, bringing a smile to her delicate features, the tiny slope of her dimples dawning in her cheeks once more. It was the most beautiful thing The Dark One had seen in thirty years.

She cuddled close to him in the car ride home, afraid to be too far away in case she woke in the dark again. He smoothed her hair down, kissed her forehead, whispered to her that everything was alright. “We’re going home, Belle. Nothing to worry about now, my darling. You’re safe. I promise, you’re safe.”

Belle nodded, crying very quietly. He’d promised her he wouldn’t let this happen again. He told her over and over when he rescued her from that tower that no one would ever hurt her again. He swore to her that no one would ever hurt her again.

He helped her inside, walked her upstairs and showed her the bedroom and promised he’d find her better clothes than the hospital gown she was in.

“May I take a shower,” she said softly, looking at him through her lashes.

His chest clenched. “Of course, Belle, here.” He showed her into the master bath, bringing some fresh towels with him. “Take as long as you like, darling,” he smiled, moving to leave and give her some privacy.

She caught his wrist. “Stay?” she whispered, looking at him. She didn’t want him far, and she truly didn’t want to give him the chance to stew in his anger and lash out against the people who hurt her. That’s not what was important. Regina was being handled, the nurse had been rightfully scared at this point, he didn’t need to do anything to her.

And she needed him.

He couldn’t tell her no. She looked so small and fragile, and though he knew her strength was unmatched it pained him so much to see her like that. “If you want me to, my love, of course.”

Belle smiled softly, reaching for him and pulling him into a deep kiss. He cupped his face, thumbing his cheeks as they kissed. She lost herself in his lips, touching his hair and his neck.

He shrugged out of his jacket, watching Belle closely as she took off his waistcoat, and his tie. She smiled at him and he kissed her again, wrapping his arms around her and holding her so, so close. She continued undressing him, leaving soft little kisses along his throat. She unbuttoned his shirt, sliding off his sleeve garters in gentle, smooth motions.

The intimacy of this, the soft touches, brushes, caresses was overwhelming. After thirty years of an absence of kind touches, of kindness,  he was starved for this. Belle was just as needy, just as breathless and wanting.

“Belle, Belle…” He whispered.

Her hands were shaking as she touched him and engulfed them in his own, kissing each of her fingers, smiling at her. “Belle,” he said very softly, looking back into those glittering eyes. “I don’t have to do anything but hold you if that’s what you want. Just closeness is enough you don’t…”

Belle swallowed and nodded. She’d never…

“Shh…” He kissed her slowly, holding the back of her head, letting his thumbs brush her cheeks, looking at the weariness in her eyes, the dark circles ghosted underneath them.

“I’m alright,” she swore, pressing into his hands. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Belle.”

She guided his hands back to the ties on her gown, smiling gently at him.

He kissed each shoulder when they were revealed, across her collarbone, his fingers ghosting over her spine and her shoulders. “Shh… I have you. I have you, you’re safe.”

She pressed into his mouth, letting her head tip back. She folded into his arms when the gown fell, twisting fingers into his hair when he kissed her breasts. “Rumple…”

His hands smoothed up her back, looking at the bruises still left there. “My sweet Belle,” he breathed, pain in his eyes. “I’m so sorry. I promised you wouldn’t be hurt and I-”

Belle pressed fingers to her lips, shaking her head. “Just remind me what love feels like, Rumple.”

In moments they were under the water together, holding each other and losing themselves in the kiss of the other. The taste of their skin became so potent on their tongues, carried by the warm water. He touched her with absolute worship. He listened to her soft gasps and moans, listened to the way she said his name with absolute rapture. He kissed her bruises and she pressed her hand over his heart, as if she could light his heart with just a touch, take his dark burdens and make them all disappear.

Rumplestiltskin would never doubt for a moment that she could.

Belle surrendered into his arms, as she had when he took her from the tower. Safe now, with him now, and she didn’t want to let him go. She’d never let him go again. “Don’t leave me,” she choked out, that aching emptiness of the asylum, of the room in the tower, leather straps that held her down and ropes that tied her to a bedpost, beatings, syringes and heated pokers still gnawing at her heart. “Please, don’t leave me.”

When Rumple was near those places didn’t exist. While the darkness within him sometimes reared its head he never hurt her, and since her rescue there had been nothing but pure, beautiful love that pulsed from him so readily. He loved so fiercely… She slid her hands down his chest and up his back, remembering his form, his body, how he breathed, how he moved, how he said her name in that growling voice that made her knees weak.

He washed her hair in tender hands, watching her succumb to the warmth and loving touches he offered her. His hands, so used to the delicate work at a spinning wheel, handled her thick locks easily, and he managed to leave it smooth and soft and free of any tangles without causing her a solitary ounce of discomfort. She smiled, eyes closed, back pressed to his chest.

He draped her hair over her shoulder and kissed up her throat to the joint of her jaw, running his hands along her arms to her waist.

Belle was flushed in the best of ways, warm, lax and entirely at ease in his embrace. His hands were so gentle, so carefully, so ready to coax the aches from her joints and soothe her thoughts and her heart in the intimacy of the space they shared.

He soaped her skin and she trembled, lips parting a little. Chaste glides over her pale flesh, worshipping her, caring for her.

Rumple whispered soft words of love into her ear, kissed her wrists, behind her ear, each temple, the slight definition of her shoulder blades.

She finally turned to him, filled with such love, so much it overflowed from her eyes, and he kissed those too. “Shh, breathe my love. It’s alright, Belle.”

“I love you so much,” she hiccupped. He smiled at her, all notions of revenge, all signs of such horrific dark deeds gone in his eyes. All that was left was pure, true love.

The water turned off and she was immediately wrapped up in a soft, luxurious towel that fit her whole body.

They both dried off and Rumple tied his robe around her, escorting her back into the other room in a towel.

In moments he was dressed in silk pajamas, and so was she. A shirt, anyway, nestled on the bed, entirely at ease, warm and almost melting. She felt absolutely incredible.

“Do you want to talk now?” She said softly, looking briefly over her shoulder at him as he braided her hair. He nodded.

“If you want,” he assured.

“Do you know why my memories stayed, and no one else’s did?” She asked softly.

“I have a hunch,” he whispered. “See, magic is a tricky thing, as I’ve told you. And the last thing you and I did before the curse overcame us, was kiss. I designed the curse so it wouldn’t let me forget, and...maybe that final touch with me allowed you to keep them. And for that I’m sorry, Belle.”

She shook her head, looking back at him. “I’m not,” she promised. “Rumple, my thoughts of you was...was all that got me through. That was it. Just...having something to think about that wasn’t horrible, having memories of you, whether I thought them up or not, that...was enough. It was enough, Rumple.”

He cupped her cheek, letting go of her hair and kissing her, holding her gently. “I missed you every day,” he whispered. “More than anything else in the entire world I just wanted to see you. Sometimes I-I thought I caught glimpses, heard your voice, felt your touch but it wasn’t real. That drove me into such darkness, Belle. I’ve never hated myself more than when...when I knew I’d ruined our happiness with that curse.”

Belle turned, caressing his cheek. “Why did you make that curse, Rumple?” She asked gently, brow pinched but unaccusing. He looked away.

“To find my son,” he said quietly after a moment. “That’s all I wanted. To find Bae. I know he’s here I just...I just have to look. And now that the curse is broken, I can. If I introduce magic here I can track him and then…” He swallowed.

Belle kissed him, cupping his face. “I’ll help you,” she promised. “I’ll help you find him, Rumple. And maybe we can go out and look for him together. But promise me, promise me that you’ll focus on that, and not Regina.”

He tensed, and she watched his eyes darken, watched a sneer begin to creep into his features and boil his warmth away.

“Rumple, please,” she whispered, cupping his cheek and meeting his eyes again. “Please, I don’t want to lose you again. I can’t. So...so please, focus on your son. Not her. She’s not important, what she did to me is going to be handled and even if it isn’t? She doesn’t matter. Us, you and I being together, that matters.”

He softened again, pressing into her hand. “You’re right. You’re right, Belle.”

She pulled him into a slow, deep kiss. “I’ll remind you of that every day if I have to. But please, please… We have a happily ever after to get back to.” She smiled at him, warm and soft and he could never resist her sweet smile.

Rumplestiltskin pulled Belle into his lap and held her, pressing his face into her hair. The light in his darkness was back again, and the brighter she glowed the smaller the shadows became. He would try everything in his power to be the man she wanted him to be. He would love her, cherish her, worship her, and he knew she would do the same for him.

Belle kissed him, so relieved to be there with him again. “I’ll never let you out of my sight, ever again.”

Rumple held her so close, so tight, shutting his eyes and knowing how lost he’d be without her. “I’ll never leave it.”

While the rest of the town was scrambling to find their footing, calling for Regina’s head, trying to leave and lost in a whirlwind of chaos, The Dark One and his caretaker were locked away, and happy.

Finally, utterly, eternally.

 


End file.
